Re:Gender works to end gender inequity by exposing root causes and advancing research-informed action. Working with multiple sectors and disciplines, we are shaping a world that demands fairness across difference.

Globalization, Human Rights & Security

Women and girls are underrepresented among combatants but overrepresented among the victims of armed conflict. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women [UNIFEM], 70 percent of casualties in recent conflicts have been civilians, the majority of them women and children. With the breakdown of infrastructure in conflict zones, women’s struggles to provide food, water and care for their families and communities are exacerbated. Sexual exploitation, harassment and assault are common challenges for both women soldiers and civilians. Rape as a systemic weapon of armed conflict is now widely recognized as a war crime. The United Nations has passed numerous resolutions on women, peace and security (most notably UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which recognizes women’s multiple roles in war and peace) and, in 2008, passed Resolution 1820 calling for more stringent measures to combat sexual violence in armed conflict.

News

Dr. Seham Sergewa had been working with children traumatized by the fighting in Libya but, after being approached by mothers who reported that they had been raped, added a question about rape to the survey she was distributing to Libyans living in...

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health finds that more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year, an average of 1,100 women a day. Around 60 percent of victims were forced to have sex by their...

New York Times: On Tuesday, Sudanese police arrested women who were protesting a public flogging that took place earlier in the week. Under Islamic law, crimes can be punished by flogging but are carried out disproportionately against women, and...

ACLU: Rape, sexual harassment, and sexual assault take place twice as often in the military as they do in civilian ranks. Along with the ACLU, the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and...